Health and wellbeing coaches work with people with physical and/or mental health conditions, people with long term conditions and those at risk of developing them. They use coaching skills to help people develop practical ways to improve their health and wellbeing.
Coaching is mostly one-to-one, but some group work is also available.
Here is a short video which explains more about health and wellbeing coaching:
Understanding what health and wellbeing coaching might mean for you
What might you talk about with a health and wellbeing coach?
The choice is yours – whatever is important to you that can improve your health and wellbeing. The sorts of things people often talk about include:
lifestyle changes you would like to make – eg losing weight, getting more active, improving sleep
managing a health condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure
a specific health problem that is affecting your sense of wellbeing
how you are balancing competing demands of life, managing stress and developing positive coping strategies.
How to arrange to see a health and wellbeing coach
Referral to health and wellbeing coaching is usually made through the surgery GPs and nurses. You are also encouraged to use askmyGP or telephone the surgery on 01353 663434 (choose option 1) if you feel this service would be of benefit to you.
Tatenda Maereka are the accredited health and wellbeing coaches based here at St Mary’s. They can be contacted through the surgery or the above referrals processes.
Coaching session format:
We will have up to 45 minutes to talk.
Together, we will agree how many sessions we have and when they are held. It is usually between 6-8 sessions.
We coach on the telephone or virtually, via a video platform or, when circumstances allow, in person.
Updated: 26.09.22
My Planned Care
We understand that if you have been referred by your GP and are waiting for a hospital appointment or treatment to begin, that you may feel uncertain, anxious or worried.
St Mary’s surgery wishes to reassure you that your hospital team will be in touch as soon as they are able.
In the meantime, the My Planned Care website gives you and your family advice and support while you wait, including providing crucial information about hospital waiting times, helping you to be better informed about your treatment plan.
My Planned Care also provides helpful details about how to manage pain, mental health, keeping healthy and access local support while you wait. It also offers hints and tips to help you and your family prepare for your appointment, operation or treatment.
Patients should note that St Mary’s Surgery has no direct access to the hospital waiting lists.
MyChart
MyChart is an online service which offers personalised, secure access to parts of your medical record. It is a FREE service available to patients using Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) services for ongoing treatment or care, including routine blood or other tests.
MyChart is designed to improve communication between you and your clinical teams, and enable you to be more involved and informed about your care by having access to your information.
It is particularly useful for people living with and managing a long-term condition, which requires them to visit the hospital regularly.
With MyChart you can:
Message securely with your medical care team
See details of your current problems / conditions
Review test results and other health information, such as vital signs (weight, height, blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respiration)
Keep up-to-date with and manage your hospital appointments
Patients wishing to sign up for a MyChart account can request to join during a clinical visit to the hospital. You will be sent an activation code to your email address with instructions on how to complete registration.
You can make a request to sign up before you receive an activation code. You need a CUH patient record and your own online access, using an up-to-date browser (Internet Explorer 11, Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox). Please allow 5-7 working days for processing and verification.
You can download the MyChart app to your smart phone from the App Store or from Google Play.
MyChart screen shots from the App Store
Will I be able to see my test results?
Yes. The majority of test results, such as blood and urine tests, are released to your MyChart account at the same time as they are sent to your clinical team, GP or whoever requested the test for processing at CUH. This means that you may see the information and results before the clinicians caring for you have had an opportunity to discuss the results with you. Please do allow time for a clinical review of your latest test results.
If the hospital arranged your tests or investigation, please contact them directly about the results.
If your GP or the surgery has arranged the tests for you, we will contact your if we need to. Please note: If your results are normal, we will not be in touch about them.
If I send a message to my hospital doctor or care team, when can I expect a reply?
MyChart is used to for non-urgent health concerns only. Please allow up to 5 working days for staff caring for you to respond.
Can I update my personal information?
Yes, you can update your home address, email and contact details through the MyChart app. Follow the onscreen instructions.
Can I view a family member’s health record in MyChart?
Yes. Parent / guardians can sign up to access their child’s health record in MyChart with a proxy-enabled function. A child can have two proxies with access to their MyChart account.
I’ve been logged out of MyChart, what happened?
If your MyChart session has been idle for 15 minutes or more, you will be automatically logged out. This is to protect the privacy and security of your information. Patients are advised to fully log out of MyChart when you are not using it.
How secure is MyChart?
Great care is taken to ensure your health information is kept private and secure. Access to information through MyChart is controlled through personal usernames and passwords. Each person controls their password, and the account cannot be accessed without that password. MyChart uses the latest encryption technology which means that your MyChart sessions are encrypted to a very high level.
Updated: 8.8.22
Earwax and ear irrigation services
Please note: ear irrigation services are currently only available through the Ely Primary Care Network out of hours service.
Earwax is produced inside your ears to keep them clean and free from germs. It usually passes out harmlessly but sometime ear wax builds up and becomes impacted or hardened.
Symptoms of earwax build-up include:
hearing loss
earache or a feeling that your ears are blocked
itchiness in or around the ear
ringing or buzzing in your ears (tinnitus)
vertigo (feeling dizzy and sick)
ear infections.
If you think you have a build-up of ear wax, please DO NOT try to clean your ears with cotton wool buds. This can make things worse as you may push the wax deeper inside. It may also cause an ear infection.
Ear irrigation or ear syringing is a quick and painless procedure where an electric pump is used to push water into your ear and wash the earwax out.
If you are booked for an ear irrigation appointment, it is essential that you prepare your ears well beforehand. You will not be able to have the procedure performed if, when arriving for your appointment, you have not followed all of the steps below to prepare.
Steps you should take to help you prepare for your ear appointment
You should oil your affected ears with liquid olive oil in order to soften the wax for easy removal. Please do not use spray oil as this does not usually soften the wax enough for it to be removed.
For your ear irrigation to be successful, you should oil your ears for 2-3 times a day for 10 consecutive days prior to your appointment.
Process for oiling your ears:
You must oil your ears two or three times a day
Lie on your side with the affected ear facing up. Use half a teaspoon or a dropper to drop the oil into your ear. Gently push and pull the outer ear to allow the drops to work in.
Remain lying down for about 10 minutes to let the oil soak into the ear wax. After 10 minutes the oil in your ear canal will have done its job, so you can wipe away any residual oil with a tissue.
Repeat same steps for your other ear, if also affected.
Do not use cotton wool or cotton buds in your ear canal as the cotton absorbs the oil and can impact its effectiveness.
Patients should be aware that if they have not taken the above steps regularly and their ear wax is still hard, the nurse will be unable to attempt to remove it.
Do not forget to use the oil – taking the above steps on the morning of your ear appointment.
Social prescribing is a means by which GP’s, Nurses and other health and care professionals can refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services to support an individual’s good health and overall wellbeing.
Social Prescribing seeks to address people’s needs in a holistic way and by connecting people to that support within the local community. Social prescribing encourages people to be better informed, to understand more about their health, and enabling them to be more proactive in shaping their own personal wellbeing.
Social Prescribing begins with a conversation in a non-judgmental way to discover “What matters to you”. It can then
Help you work out what you need to improve your health and wellbeing.
Support you to make practical and realistic plans to change things for the better.
Help navigate more traditional health and social care services when needed.
Some of the issues may include signposting and support for:
Accessing help with transport, mobility and accessibility.
Accessing advice around money, debt, benefits and housing,
Signposting for managing forms and correspondence
Making meaningful social connections.
Connecting with mental health and psychological support services and social services.
Maintaining healthy lifestyles, activities and exercise.
Finding and maintaining employment and meaningful activities.
Getting help with activities of daily living and assistive technology
Getting hep with any family or caring responsibilities you may have.
Helping you to access community groups and activities.
Ali McCarthy is the Social Prescriber based here at St Mary’s Surgery. She can be contacted through Reception or by asking your GP or other health professional for a referral.
Ali offers support with the following structure:
Telephone appointments will be offered as a first choice. Face to face appointments, if preferred, can be arranged in compliance with all Covid precautions. The venue can be discussed and mutually agreed.
Sessions may last around 45 minutes, allowing time to explore the issues that are impacting your health and wellbeing
It may be mutually decided that two or more sessions would be beneficial. These will be discussed on an individual basis.
Work in a holistic, person-centred way to find support options that are meaningful to you.
Travel vaccination clinics
Do you need vaccinations?
When you travel abroad, you may need vaccinations to protect yourself from diseases and infections which pose a threat in other parts of the world. It is therefore important to find out in good time before you travel whether you will need additional vaccinations for the country you are visiting.
Here at St Mary’s Surgery we offer a comprehensive travel health advice and immunisation service. We can assess the health risks of your travel plans and recommend the appropriate vaccinations.
As some vaccinations take time to reach effective levels of protection or may involve the completion of a carefully spaced course of doses, it is important that you allow sufficient time for this before your travel – at least three months – if possible.
Planning a holiday abroad – ensure you and your family are up-to-date with travel vaccinations
Our normal travel clinic process is:
Patients to complete and submit a travel risk assessment form (one per person travelling) via Ask My GP
A telephone consultation with a travel clinic nurse to discuss your travel requirements in more detail to be arranged. This provides an opportunity to fully discuss your travel plans and for our nurses to ensure you have the right vaccine information for the places you are visiting.
Face to face vaccination appointment booked or vaccine course to be commenced.
Should you have a late holiday booking, having the appropriate vaccinations and advice will still give you some important protection. Please note that if your trip is less than four weeks away, the surgery will NOT be able to see you for your vaccinations. We ask that you seek advice from an external travel clinic.We can offer a printout of the vaccinations on your patient record to help with this, if you wish.
St Mary’s surgery is a registered yellow fever centre and we welcome patients from surgeries unable to provide this service. (Please note patients from other surgeries are not able to have their other vaccinations here.)
Travel vaccination fees
In addition to our travel clinic consultation, we are able to offer some routine travel vaccinations FREE of charge through the NHS.
These include:
Hepatitis A
Typhoid
Cholera
Tetanus / diphtheria / polio-combined.
Other vaccinations are NOT covered by the NHS and are considered as private treatments that incur a cost. These include Yellow Fever and Hepatitis B. Malaria prevention treatment also requires a private prescription.
Where a course of vaccinations is required and where there is a charge, your travel nurse will advise you when and where to pay.
2. Complete a travel risk assessment form via Ask My GP (available 24/7) for each person travelling. Please allow at least ten working days for our travel clinic nurses to review your forms before they contact you to arrange your telephone consultation.
During your telephone consultation, our travel clinic nurse will assess the health risks of your travel plans and advise you what vaccinations, if any, are needed for you and your family. Please note: some vaccinations may require a course of injections, so follow-up appointments may be needed.
It might be helpful if you’ve got details of your previous travel immunisations to hand, especially if you had them at another location and they aren’t on your patient record.
3. It is important to find out about any specific restrictions or requirements for the country you are planning to visit before you book. FCO advice on country entry requirements is regularly updated. The government has also provided a useful step-by-step planning list for those wishing to holiday abroad.
Travelling with medicines
Advice for people who need to take medicines with them when travelling abroad is here.
If you become ill with a minor ailment when travelling abroad, please visit a local pharmacy. More here.
Global Health Insurance Cards
A UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) gives you the right to access state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in the European Union at a reduced cost or sometimes for free.
If you have a UK European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) it will be valid until the expiry date on the card. Once it expires, you’ll need to apply for a GHIC to replace it.
Please note: GHIC and EHIC do not replace travel insurance.
Updated: 09.08.22
Travel clinics in our area
There are a number of travel clinics in our area which may be able to help you with your travel plans.
It is designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes or dementia. As we get older, we have a higher risk of developing one of these conditions. An NHS Health Check can help find ways to lower this risk.
If you’re in the 40 to 74 age group without a pre-existing condition, you should receive an invitation for your free health check from the surgery every five years.
If you are in this age group and new to the surgery, you will be invited for your free health check within six months of joining.
If, once you’ve had your health check and there is no concern over your blood test results, we will invite you again in five years.
Updated: 12.4.21
Shingles vaccination
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox.
The virus can cause a rash that develops around the torso, which can be quite painful for some people.
St Mary’s offers shingles vaccination clinics for patients aged between 70 and 80.
The shingles vaccine is given as an injection into the upper arm. Unlike the flu jab, you’ll only need to have the vaccination once and you can have it at any time of the year.
The shingles vaccine is expected to reduce your risk of getting shingles. If you do go on to have the disease, your symptoms may be milder and the illness shorter.
There are 2 shingles vaccines used in the UK:
Zostavax, a live vaccine given as 1 dose
Shingrix, a non-live vaccine given as 2 doses, 2 months apart
Most people will have the Zostavax vaccine. The Shingrix vaccine is recommended if Zostavax is not suitable for you, for example if you have a condition that affects your immune system.
You can also self-refer to their services by completing their contact form, or you can come through the surgery and we will be glad to help signpost you to the right stop smoking support for you.
